A TRIP earlier this year to Canberra for a parliamentary breakfast on keeping Australia fishing made me realise how vital it is to get behind the future of fishing in Australia – our kids.
In this age of iPhones and Facebook it’s more important than ever to get kids engaged in outdoor activities. And what better way to get them off their computers, out into the fresh air and interacting with people face to face than by introducing them to fishing?
With this in mind I thought I’d put my money where my mouth is and as a small initiative I decided to run a “Catch & Click” photo competition through our local game fishing club (Botany Bay Game Fishing Club) for all junior members and other kids of club members.
The competition was run with two categories – game fish and non-game fish. The kids had to submit a photo of themselves with a fish and it was entered into a raffle drawn at our annual presentation lunch. This ensured that each entrant had a chance to win, no matter the species or how big it was. This competition was about just getting out there and giving it a go and getting rewarded for that.
Thanks to some amazing sponsors we were able to give each junior a bag full of fishing goodies and also give away some awesome rod and reel combos to the winners.
This year our winners were:
Gamefish: Adam Libdy (dolphin fish)
Runner-up gamefish: Zoe Rontziokos (striped tuna)
Non gamefish: Hayden Curtis (bream)
Runner-up non gamefish: Noah Ndaira (bream)
Gamefish category winner Adam Libdy (centre) receiving his prize from BBGFC President Ameen Ayoub (right).
Runner-up gamefish winner Zoe Rontziokos receiving her prize.
I would like to thank all the junior anglers that entered as well as the wonderful sponsors that got behind this competition and made it so special. A special thanks to:
Shimano
Fishing World Magazine
Costa
Black Pete
Tackle World
The Botany Bay GFC committee
Hopefully next year we will see this competition getting bigger and better and more juniors getting out there and getting photos with their fish.
Today’s children are the future leaders of our sport and the fishing club members of tomorrow. If we can get them excited and into fishing at an early age then we can be certain that the future of our sport is in good hands.
